Later, when you’re heading to the office in heavy morning traffic and you just want to relax and enjoy the S4’s 500-watt Bang & Olufsen 14-speaker audio system, you just flip the S4’s Drive Select to ‘Comfort’ mode to activate easy steering effort, moderate throttle response, smooth shifts, and a comfortable ride.

Yes, when equipped with Audi Drive Select and Quattro sport differential ($4,000 option), as our test car was, the S4 becomes the car you want it to be with just the twist of a dial. It’s almost like owning two (or three) cars in one: in ‘Comfort’ mode, the S4 has a very light steering feel, reasonably comfortable ride, smooth shifts and moderate throttle response. You could easily be driving an A4 or even a Passat. Take the kids to school, tootle around the mall parking lot, head to the A&W drive-in—it’s all good in your sleepy S4 ‘Comfort-mobile’. But adjust the Audi Drive Select to the ‘Dynamic’ setting using the MMI dial on the centre console, and you’ve got a tiger under your seat with quick throttle response, delayed upshifts, stiff shocks, and quicker, firmer steering response. Just put on your ‘vroom-vroom’ face, leave the kids at home, and head out for some fun.

You can also leave Drive Select in ‘Auto’ mode, which adapts the car’s response to driving conditions and driver input automatically. And if you want to adjust each vehicle system individually, there is an ‘Individual’ setting. For example, you can have ‘Sport’ throttle response and ‘Comfort’ suspension.